Saudi Arabia recorded its widest quarterly budget deficit in five years in the final three months of 2025, as lower crude oil prices weigh down the kingdom’s finances, Bloomberg is reporting. Data released by the Saudi Ministry of Finance  shows the government posted a deficit of 94.9 billion riyals ($25.3 billion) in the fourth quarter, which brought the total shortfall for 2025 to nearly 276.6 billion riyals ($73.73 billion), more than double the previous year’s 115.6 billion riyals ($30.82 billion) deficit in 2024.  The full-year deficit amounted to roughly 5.5 percent of gross domestic product. Non-oil revenue reached about 122.6 billion riyals ($32.68 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2025, while oil revenue fell to around 154.2 billion riyals ($41.10 billion), down from 170.8 billion riyals ($45.53 billion) in the same period a year earlier, according to Finance Ministry data. Saudi Arabia has been running budget deficits since late 2022, with Bloomberg Economics noting that the kingdom would need oil prices to average about $97 per barrel in 2025 to balance its budget. That figure rises to roughly $114 per barrel when domestic spending by the sovereign wealth fund is included. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, is currently trading at […]